Wireless Adapter Slow Speed

plinky

Honorable
Dec 19, 2013
2
0
10,510
Hello all,

I recently moved into a new house and set my desktop pc up and have begun using the internet. The issue i'm facing is the slow speed i'm receiving from my broadband. The broadband speed is 150 mbps but can drop to around 50 at times, my usb adapter gets 1mbs if its lucky. My room is somewhat far but I recieve 4 bars of connectivity, I live with three other housemates all of whom do not face these issues and experience high speed internet.

There are at least 4 devices not including mine that connect to the internet not including any phones as they can connect to a separate 5g network. Usual error messages that I receive when troubleshooting the network are either "the DNS server is not responding" or "gateway not available", with the latter it will show that the problem is fixed however it will continue occurring afterwards.

I personally believe the issue lies with adapter or the fact that there are too many devices on the network however lack any evidence to know for sure.

My pc is custom built
OS: Windows Home premium 64
CPU: amd fx 6300
GPU: radeon R9 270x series
RAM: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CXM 600W
MOBO: Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 Motherboard

USB adapter: 802.11n Ralink usb - Make Laptone
Driver Version : 6.1.7600.16385

Router and ISP
Virgin Media Fibre Optic 150mbps - Wireless Connection
Hub Model (Netgear VMDG480)

If you have any questions feel free to post them and Ill attempt to answer them.
Thank you
 
Solution
USB adapters generally have poor antennas and experience signal loss and/or interference no matter how good a signal may seem to be.
The best choice would be to get a decent PCIe x1 adapter, at least a notch or two up from the really cheap ones. Mine cost $33, and is able to see multiple networks in my neighborhood of detached houses that a cheap USB adapter cannot see.
USB adapters generally have poor antennas and experience signal loss and/or interference no matter how good a signal may seem to be.
The best choice would be to get a decent PCIe x1 adapter, at least a notch or two up from the really cheap ones. Mine cost $33, and is able to see multiple networks in my neighborhood of detached houses that a cheap USB adapter cannot see.
 
Solution

HyNrgy

Reputable
Mar 15, 2014
336
0
4,960
also, is the adaptor connected directly to the usb port? if so, did it come with an extention cable because you may be getting interference from the pc (housing, electrical, etc) itself and just moving it up and away could help, you may just be getting slow speeds due to interference and packet loss because of it